Goal: Stop the promotion and sale of bottled water at national parks in the United States.

If you visit nearly any national park in the United States, you’ll be greeted by a vending machine selling bottled water at the entrance. Bottled water corporations pay big money for their environmentally-destructive products to be advertised and sold at the few previous natural reserves left in our country. In addition, bottled water is less regulated than tap water and creates unnecessary waste. Support the discontinuation of bottled water sales in national parks, and protect our national parks from exploitation and profiteering.

Visitors drink billions of gallons of water in U.S. national parks every year. Billboards and concession stands give these visitors the message that bottled water is far safer than tap water, but it’s actually far less regulated than tap water in these regions. A huge percentage of recycling waste in parks comes from disposable plastic bottles. We must not let profit-driven bottled water companies inaccurately portray themselves as eco-friendly by infiltrating our parks.

Only a few of our natural parks, such as the Grand Canyon and Zion, have decided to go the environmental route and eliminate bottled water from their parks. This is largely due to bottled water corporations making the switch from bottled to tap financially difficult. Sign this petition to urge the National Park Service to phase out bottled water from all U.S. parks.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Director Jarvis,

Waste from disposable plastic water bottles is littering the beautiful areas of our nation’s national parks. It is not right for bottled water corporations to profit off our natural treasures. Bottled water is far less regulated than the tap water in our national parks, meaning there is no benefit to bottled water whatsoever.

I am urging you to stock your concession shelves with environmentally-sustainable and reusable water bottles, which can replace the corporate-driven disposable bottles. The National Park Service can profit from the sale of these eco-friendly bottles instead of contributing to the unsightly and unnecessary recycling waste. It is time to let bottled water corporations know that their destructive products are no longer necessary or welcome in our parks.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo credit: Grand Canyon NPS via Flickr

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3 Comments

Actually, I’d like a multiple fix for the problem.
1) Charge a bottle deposit to discourage littering.
2) Provide free water fountains and free refills for bottles, to encourage re-use.
3) Sell canteens and light mesh trash tote-out bags at the same place the bottled water is vended.
4) Fine deliberate litterers.
Those who still want bottled water should be able to get it, but many tourists will likely fill or buy canteens instead.

Supplying bottled water at national parks–or any outdoor facility–is akin to putting up a sign that stats “Please deposit litter here” pointing at the ground! It’s nonsensical, counterproductive, wasteful, and promotes useless consumption and (of course) littering!